The Cupertino Courier

Internet access at libraries becomes a local concern

Councilmember appointed to committee to study issue

By Pam Marino

The controversy over library Internet access to pornographic Web sites that has simmered around the county has been tepid here in Cupertino, although a City Councilmember will now be involved in the issue.

Councilmember John Statton was appointed last week to a county library committee that will study Internet access to pornography on public library computers.

Statton represents Cupertino on the Santa Clara County Library District Joint Powers Authority (JPA) board, which met for three hours Jan. 22 at the Cupertino library. More than 25 protesters representing a Gilroy-based group that wants Internet access for children limited at libraries picketed outside before the meeting.

The JPA board appointed Statton to the Internet Committee, along with Saratoga City Councilman Stan Bogosian and Morgan Hill Councilman Dennis Kennedy. Los Altos Hills City Councilwoman Elaine Dawber was chosen to chair the committee.

"I think that one key issue in all this is what is the role of a library in a community and how should it help parents understand information access issues that affect their children?" Statton said.

The committee will look at new filtering products and may even work directly with software companies to discuss other options. It will also study issues and legal decisions surrounding library Internet access.

The issue of Internet access has been hotly debated since last summer by citizens at JPA meetings as well as on the county library citizens advisory committee. The Gilroy-based group called KIDS, Keep the Internet Decent and Safe, has been protesting access to pornography on the Internet at meetings, and through informational pickets. The group first picketed outside the Cupertino library last August.

There have been no formal complaints from Cupertino residents about Internet access at the city's library branch, according to city officials. The Cupertino Library Commission, made up of residents, has also not received complaints since Internet access was introduced at the library in the fall of 1996.

"We found that people are using the Internet in a very reasonable and responsible way," County Librarian Susan Fuller said Monday.

The official stance of county library officials is that there should be open access to everything in the library's collection, including the Internet; the responsibility of monitoring children's access rests with the parents.

But KIDS members have been adamant in demanding that access be limited in public libraries, either through filtering software, or through special cards that would allow children access if parents consent.

Cupertino library commission member Jean Bedord said last August that the problem with filtering software is that it sometimes filters out legitimate information.

"Behind the scenes somebody's making a judgment call; it goes to censorship," she said.

Last week KIDS members told the JPA tales of their children being exposed while doing research, as in the case of a girl who found Playboy links while looking up information on rabbits.

"I'm getting sick and tired of shielding my children from pornography at the library," Mary Drummond of Gilroy said.

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